Blind Bidding Strategy (1 Viewer)

[ATG]

My redraft league utilizes blind bidding to acquire free agents. I'm new to this site. I noticed that David Dodds publishes a top 200 list every week during the season. Each player has an auction value. For example Ray Rice had an auction value of 74. This represents $74 value out of $200 which represents 37% of your available money. I can see the logic of spending 37% on Rice during a draft, however if he hypothetically became available in week 3, 37% would never be enough to acquire him. You would probably need to use most of the $200. Wouldnt it be more helpful to list the weekly rankings with an auction value corresponding to their value that week in free agency process? Also, any thoughts on strategy with the blind bidding system? Typically early in the year some players emerge that were not expected to do that well. Do you shoot your load early to strengthen your team? What happens when the star player is out for the year in week 7 and his backup becomes available? At that point your money has already been spent. Any thoughts?

 

[spodog]

Also, any thoughts on strategy with the blind bidding system? Typically early in the year some players emerge that were not expected to do that well. Do you shoot your load early to strengthen your team?

Great questions. I think a huge factor in determining your strategy is some knowledge of the habits of the other owners in your league. If you have owners who have a tendency to throw 75% of their bidding budget at the guys who have breakout weeks in the first 3 weeks of the season, then it's obviously going to cost you a lot more to go get one of these guys. You'll have to use some discretion, though. Last year, a number of owners were able to grab Cam Newton in the bidding process in the first few weeks of the season, and it likely paid big dividends for them throughout the year. There are also guys who go throw good bidding money after the Frisman Jackson's of the world though, and never get an ounce of payback from that investment. As a general rule, I like to think about the bidding allocation as a declining curve, where around 2/3 of my bid money will be earmarked for the first five weeks of the season, and the remaining 1/3 for the balance of the season. As you get late into the season, the chance of picking up a guy via bidding who will have a material impact on your season becomes less and less, but you still need some cash to cover yourself in the event that you sustain an injury at a key spot and need to spend to cover that gap.